Building a Future: Documenting the History of our Future Home

BY SOFIA GLUSKIN, BIOLOGY, CLASS OF ‘23 AND KYLE BALLADO, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, CLASS OF ‘23

AFTER YEARS OF PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION, the new home of the Judy Genshaft Honors College is set to open in the spring of 2023! The Honors College building will host a variety of students across the Tampa campus, offering connected spaces for classrooms, study areas, faculty offices, event spaces, creative studios, and numerous areas for collaboration.

In the semesters leading up to the grand opening of this home on campus, Professor Atsuko Sakai has offered an Honors Capstone course called Exploring Behind the Veil: The New Honors Building. Each semester, her students toured and documented the construction process during various stages while studying topics such as structural foundations, the architectural design process, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and sustainability, collaborative spaces, neuroscience in architecture, and much more. Some of the students wanted to remain involved even after the course ended and formed a student workgroup to continuously support building tours and educational activities for non-Capstone students.

In addition to readings and class discussions, the course also included guest lectures from professionals involved in the design and construction of the Honors College building, including a collaboration with the USF Facilities Management Architecture Engineering Construction Experience organized by Steve Lafferty, director of design and construction for USF Facilities Management. Students also took two site visits per semester to tour the construction site hosted by the Beck Group.

From The Ground Up

First offered in Fall 2021, the primary curricular focus of the Capstone course was structural design. Students witnessed the bare bones of construction firsthand, learning about building foundations, concrete testing, and geotechnical engineering. The very first Honors Capstone course site visit was full of concrete, dust, and scaffolding – very different from what we see today!

Kyle Ballado and Sofia Gluskin took Professor Sakai’s capstone course in Fall 2021. In their final group project, “The New Honors College: A Holistic Experience, Not Just a Building,” they and their fellow group members created a narrated presentation that could be used as a foundation for future educational materials about the new Honors College building. “There are so many facets to the building that make it not only unique to USF but to the state as a whole,” remarked Ballado. “So much love has been poured into the project, and you can see that in the work that everyone does.”

Reflecting on her experience in the course, Gluskin says, “I really loved how interdisciplinary this capstone was. People of all different majors were able to learn something new each day. I gained an understanding and appreciation for what goes into the architectural process, from beginning to end.” In her letter to future Honors students, part of the final portfolio that each student produced at the end of the capstone, Gluskin wrote, “I hope you enjoy every new feature, from the learning lofts to the art and food studios to the café. Know that every detail was meticulously planned and fabricated, from the concrete and metal foundations which extend over 100 feet into the ground to the very finishes of the chairs that you will sit in.”

Sophie Roth-Knigin and Samantha Zappala also took the capstone course in Fall 2021. “The process to create the new building started before I was even in high school and is the result of hundreds of perspectives and workers, so there will always be more to uncover about the building,” says Roth-Knigin.

In her letter to future students, Zappala commented on her site visit experiences, “Stepping foot inside of the building during construction was such a unique opportunity. At each site visit, there were various professionals who gave us the tour and informed us about the current construction phase and milestones. Being able to ask questions of these experts was a rare opportunity, and it is something you should certainly take advantage of.”

Future Focused

Jasmine Robins, an Honors Peer Mentor Leader (PML), and Karlyn Reinhardt, an Honors Peer Mentor (PM), were also students in the Fall 2021 Capstone course. They have incorporated their knowledge from the Capstone and interactive educational materials from their final group projects into teaching Honors Foundations, a discussion-based course for new USF Honors students in their first semester.

In Spring 2022, the Capstone course focused on LEED and sustainability. Students were engaged in LEED sustainability efforts that were used throughout the building. Matthew Stoner took the Capstone in its second semester. He says that “one of the important parts of being LEED-certified is finding ways to engage future residents and visitors of the building in learning about the different sustainability efforts that went into the design and construction of the building.” His group’s final project is an interactive tour/scavenger hunt to be used in the new building which incorporates various LEED-related content.

As a PML, Robins was able to create a curriculum for incoming Honors students. She says, “I used this position to incorporate something that I thought was so incredibly important! I completed my Capstone a year ago and thought that spreading the information I learned to freshmen through Honors Foundations would make them more excited about being in the Honors College.” She used her final group project as a template for the new Honors Foundations materials. Reinhardt adds, “As a PM, I was able to have first-hand experience sharing the module and my knowledge with my class. I think that my students not only enjoyed getting an inside glimpse of what the building will be like but also developed an interest and enthusiasm for all the possibilities that are to come to the Honors College.”

MARKING THE OCCASION

“This building is so complex that it takes more than a semester to understand it in depth. To fully appreciate our new learning environment, we should document this unique moment of our Honors College and utilize the whole building as an interdisciplinary textbook,” says Professor Sakai, who is an associate member of American Institute of Architects, and holds a LEED AP BD+C, along with 25 years of experience in Architectural Design Education. Sakai adds, “In the fall of 2022, my students collected oral histories from the professionals who were part of the design/construction process, and this spring, we are getting ready for the opening by designing a variety of guided tours for different groups of visitors!”

The Judy Genshaft Honors College building is already educating students, even as it continues through the final stages of construction. Under Professor Sakai’s leadership, students have documented the design process and captured decisions as they are being made for historical context. Sakai’s courses are emblematic of the powerful impact of experiential and community-based learning, in which our students are able to learn in real-world settings.